Britain's Prince Harry is shown in his accommodation at Forward Operating Base Delhi in Afghanistan, on Jan. 2, 2008. Harry was pulled out of the country on Friday, a day after his deployment was reported by media worldwide.

London ? Prince Harry wanted to be “one of the lads,” an ordinary soldier sharing risk and hardship with his men. For 10 weeks, he got his wish – and that may be enough to advance his career in the military.

British defense chiefs announced Friday they were withdrawing him immediately from the combat zone in Afghanistan after his deployment, once a closely guarded secret, became public.

Still, Harry’s hopes of a long-term military career should still be boosted by his time at war – and by the assessment of his commander, Brig. Andrew Mackey, that the prince “acquitted himself with distinction.”

Harry, third in line to the throne, has spoken of his desire to be an ordinary soldier. Unlike his older brother, William, who is also in the army but whose future military role will be largely ceremonial, Harry, 23, sees the military as a career.

In a 2006 interview, he said he would not have gone through the rigors of officer training at Sandhurst military academy only to “sit on my arse back home while my boys are out fighting for their country.”

The prince’s deployment had gone undisclosed under an agreement between the Ministry of Defense and major news organizations designed to protect Harry and his fellow soldiers.

An Australian women’s magazine reported on Harry’s deployment last month, but that report received little attention. When the news was posted on the Drudge Report Web site on Thursday, the dam burst.

Harry’s work in Afghanistan’s volatile Helmand province involved calling in airstrikes on Taliban positions, as well as foot patrols. He spent part of his deployment at a base 500 yards from Taliban positions.

Conditions were primitive and dangerous, but Harry said the posting offered him a rare sort of freedom.

“I think this is about as normal as I’m ever going to get,” Harry said while serving at a dusty outpost called Forward Operating Base Delhi.

“It’s bizarre,” he reflected. “I’m out here now, haven’t really had a shower for four days, haven’t washed my clothes for a week and everything seems completely normal. It’s nice just to be here with all the guys and just mucking in as one of the lads.”

Back home in Britain, the prince is stalked by the paparazzi. His frequent boozy trips to London nightclubs and his occasional gaffes – like wearing an armband with a a Nazi emblem to a costume party – are captured by paparazzi and beamed around the world.